Friday, 1 June 2012

WASHINGTON -- Mitt Romney released his personal financial disclosure form for 2011 late on Friday, publicly revealing a host of transactions involving Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs for the first time.

Romney's 2010 tax return had pegged the presumptive Republican nominee's net worth at somewhere between $190 million and $250 million, but the newly released disclosures shine more light on where and how Romney makes his fortune.

According to the disclosure form, Romney's most lucrative assets in 2011 were his investments in Bain Capital. Nineteen different Bain investments are worth a total of at least $4.5 million, but are likely far more valuable because two of those assets are simply described as worth more than $1 million. Federal disclosure rules do not require candidates to list the precise value of assets or earnings, instead relying on broad ranges of wealth.

One can thus calculate a range for how much Romney earned from Bain and other holdings in 2011. Over the course of last year, the former Bain Capital CEO took in somewhere between $720,000 and $6.26 million from holdings in the firm. Money managed by Goldman Sachs was good for at least $1,113,503.01, with the gain on one Goldman fund classified simply as "over $1,000,000." In addition, he received between $100,001 and $1,000,000 from the sale of an asset portfolio managed by Goldman Sachs.

Romney also earned $260,389.74 in 2011 from stock awards he received for serving on the board of Marriott Hotels in 2009 and 2010 (Romney's first name, Willard, was inspired by Marriott founder J. Willard Marriott, a close friend of the former Massachusetts governor's father). Royalties from his book, "No Apology: Believe in America," were good for between $50,001 and $100,000. On Sept. 12, 2011, he received between $201 and $1,000 from The New York Times for an op-ed he wrote.

Romney received between $571,666 and $1,768,500 from the sale of various stocks during the year.

Speaking fees were another big income source, with four talks bringing in a total of $189,975, including a $68,000 speech at GoldenTree Asset Management, a $42,500 talk at Barclays Bank, and another $68,000 speech before the International Franchise Association.

Romney owns between $250,001 and $500,000 in gold. He made less than $201 from those holdings last year.

The median household income in the United States at the close of 2011 was$51,413.